Hayadan > Computing and technology > nano-tech > nano materials > Researchers at the Technion have developed a technology that gives "electromagnetic transparency" to hard surfaces

Researchers at the Technion have developed a technology that gives "electromagnetic transparency" to hard surfaces

This type of transparency is relevant to a wide variety of applications including flat antennas, analog-optical computing devices and compact imaging systems

When a point electromagnetic source that propagates perfect circular wavefronts (bottom row, left) is placed in front of a rigid dielectric surface, significant reflections and distortions in the wavefronts are observed (bottom row, right). When the same surface is coated with metal formations designed in the article according to the Generalized Huygens' Condition, the disturbances disappear thanks to the general-angular irregularities (bottom row, middle) and the ideal propagation is fully restored (as if the waves were propagating in free space, similar to the scenario on the left). Top row: Left: the measurement setup in which the surface (device) is illuminated and the field transmitted by a detector (detector) is measured. Middle: the dielectric surface that is created with a coating to suppress reflections at all angles. Right: reference surface without the coating (for which a significant return was observed).

Researchers at the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering have developed an approach that gives "electromagnetic transparency" to hard surfaces. This transparency is maintained for every angle of incidence of the light on the surface. The research, recently published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials, edited by Prof. Ariel Epstein and PhD student Amit Shaham.

The innovative technology is based on an electromagnetic principle called Generalized Huygens' condition, which enables the creation of innovative meta-surfaces that maintain electromagnetic transparency at all angles. This sweeping transparency (omnidirectional transparency) is expressed both at the level of the engineered unit cell (meta-atom) and at the level of the entire surface (meta-surface).

Existing metasurfaces suffer from many limitations when it comes to wide angular response, and the new approach solves this problem. This breakthrough and its implications are relevant to many applications Including flat antennas, optical devices for analog image processing, thin mirrors and lenses and compact imaging systems.

The research and its derivatives were presented this year by Amit Shaham at the main conferences in the field. At the conference of the European Association for Antennas and Wave Propagation held in Glasgow (EuCAP 2024), the judging committee of the conference awarded it In the award for the best article in the field of electromagnetism, and at another conference (of the IEEE organization) held in Florence (IEEE APS/URS 2024) he wonSecond place in the competition for student essays.

for the article inAdvanced Optical Materials

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